Stratasys Takes on the Next Additive Roadblock

At RAPID, Stratasys unveiled another new concept in 3D printing, the Stratasys Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator. The new platform puts multiple 3D print cells together in a modular unit to produce a continuous stream of multiple products.

After a long, slow build-up, additive manufacturing has come a long way very quickly this decade.

New technologies and breakthroughs have made 3D printing easier to use, more stable, and more practical in almost any setting—from grade school labs to jet engines, and everything in between.

Meanwhile, new materials and deposition techniques have made 3d-printed objects far stronger more useful than many ever thought possible.

But the core technologies behind these tools still carry some major roadblocks that prevent them from delivering on the (admittedly outlandish) hype and promise of the industry.

Take Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), for example, This 3DP technique—invented by Stratasys co-founder and current CIO, Scott Crump, back in 1989—deposits molten plastics in thin, careful layers in a confined space to create its builds.